Vancouver publishing powerhouse Glacier Media Inc., through its Toronto trade magazine division Business Information Group, is buying 15 trade titles and associated properties from Rogers Publishing in a deal that shakes up the Canadian business-to-business publishing industry. Sixty-three employees have been offered positions with Glacier.

The affected Rogers titles include:

Food in Canada
Le Bulletin des agriculteurs
Canadian Packaging
HPAC
Meetings & Incentive Travel (including Incentiveworks, Canada’s largest trade show for the meetings, incentive travel and promotions industry)
Canadian Plant
Plant West
Canadian Metalworking
Canadian Plastics
Materials, Management & Distribution (MM&D)
Purchasing B2B
Design Engineering
Hardware Merchandising (one of the oldest magazines in Canada)
Canadian Contractor
HVAC
Onsite
Fraser's Directory
Canadian Manufacturing Online

The deal includes related Web site and databases.

Rogers retains the Marketing group, including Marketing, CARDOnline and Canadian Printer (online), as well as the medical, financial and legal publications.

Toronto-based Rogers employees who accept new job offers will move the Business Information Group offices further north in the DVP/Eglinton area. (That office itself expects to move as the lease expires in October). Montreal-based employees at Les Bulletin des agriculteurs will move to Glacier's Montreal office.

Glacier chief financial officer Orest Smysnuik says there will be no magazine closures as a result of the deal, which closes May 27. "There actually is very little overlap. That's one of the things that appealed to us about it," he told Masthead.

One area of overlap is Fraser's Directories with BIG's existing Scott's Directories.

Smysnuik says the deal has been under discussion for the last several months. He wouldn't reveal terms or revenue figures. Masthead estimates the revenue for the group at approximately $15 million.

The Rogers titles are part of the old Maclean Hunter business publishing group, and the Business Information Group is the successor to the old Southam trade magazine business. The two businesses trace their origins to two feuding brothers, J.B. Maclean and Hugh C. MacLean respectively (they spelled their names differently), who parted company more than 100 years ago.

Below is the full text of the press release. Stay with Masthead for more reports on the changes.

Glacier Media Enters Agreement With Rogers Publishing To Acquire Select Portfolio Of Trade Publication Assets

(TSX:GVC) Glacier Media Inc. is pleased to announce that, through one of its affiliates, it has entered into a definitive agreement with Rogers Publishing Limited to acquire a portfolio of media assets from Rogers’ business and professional publishing group. The assets comprise 15 trade publications and digital brands, together with their associated readership database, events and web presence.

Properties acquired include established and leading publications such as Food in Canada, Le Bulletin des agriculteurs, Canadian Packaging, HPAC and Meetings & Incentive Travel (including Incentiveworks, Canada’s largest trade show for the meetings, incentive travel and promotions industry).

The assets will integrate into Glacier’s Business Information Group, a leading operator of Canadian trade publications and industry-focused web sites, and Glacier’s Farm Business Communications.

The acquisition allows Glacier to:
Expand the company’s growing print and digital footprint in the Canadian agriculture and food media industry;
Further leverage the operating platform of the Business Information Group (e.g. fulfillment systems, production services, web technologies);
Utilize acquired technologies to accelerate the online capabilities and reach of the Business Information Group’s directory products, especially Scott’s Directories.

The transaction is expected to close on May 27, 2011.

About the Company: Glacier Media Inc. is an information communications company focused on the provision of primary and essential information and related services through print, electronic and online media.  Glacier Media Inc. is pursuing this strategy through its core businesses: the local newspaper, trade information and business and professional publishing.